Serbian president attends Chanukah ceremony

(JTA) — Serbian President Boris Tadić attended a candle-lighting ceremony for Chanukah at a Belgrade synagogue.

During Wedensday’s event at the Sukkat Shalom Synagogue, Tadić promised to build a Holocaust memorial at Staro Sajmiste, the site of a former concentration camp. The memorial will honor murdered Jews, Serbs and Roma.

"We often speak of the necessity to protect human identity,” Tadić said. “These occasions are an opportunity to speak about the protection of not only Jewish, but the individual identity of all in Serbia."

A number of leading religious figures attended the event, including the patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Irinej Bulovic; Belgrade’s Catholic archibishop, Stanislav Hochevar; and Serbian Muslim community leader Adem Zilkic.